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The SpaceX capsule was sealed off by crew members on the International Space Station on Wednesday. After 1 a.m. Dragon should be cut loose from the station, carrying 1,455 pounds of NASA cargo bound for home. The orbiting capsule is scheduled to drop toward the Earth, reenter the atmosphere and splash into the Pacific a few hundred miles off Los Angeles at 8:44 a.m.
Here's how SpaceX says it all should go:
Early Thursday, at approximately 1:00 AM Pacific/4:00 AM Eastern, they will use the space station's robotic arm to pull the spacecraft from the station. Two hours later, the robotic arm will release Dragon and the spacecraft will begin its journey home.Dragon is targeted to land in the Pacific Ocean, a few hundred miles west of Southern California, at approximately 8:44 AM Pacific/11:44 AM Eastern on Thursday, May 31st. The spacecraft returns to Earth like a burning comet, protected from extreme reentry temperatures by its powerful PICA-X heat shield. The landing location is controlled by firing the Draco thrusters during reentry.
In a carefully timed sequence of events, dual drogue parachutes deploy at 45,000 feet to stabilize and slow the spacecraft. Full deployment of the drogues triggers the release of the main parachutes, each 116 feet in diameter, at about 10,000 feet, with the drogues detaching from the spacecraft. Main parachutes further slow the spacecraft's descent to approximately 16 to 18 feet per second.
SpaceX will use a 185-foot working barge equipped with a crane, an 80-foot crew boat, and two 25-foot rigid hull inflatable boats (RIB) to conduct recovery operations. On board will be approximately a dozen SpaceX engineers and technicians as well as a four-person dive team.
The boats will be waiting just outside of the targeted landing area. Once Dragon lands in the water, the 25-foot boats will carry the experienced dive team to the floating spacecraft. They will secure the vehicle and tow it to the barge where the crane will pick it up and place it on deck. The ships will then begin the trip back to land. In the future, Dragon will use SuperDraco thrusters to land on a landing pad on ground.
Photo from 2010 test flight and recovery
Dragon Return Timeline 5/31/12 (Pacific Time and subject to change)
01:05 - Dragon uninstalled using station's robotic arm
03:10 - Dragon released by the robotic arm
03:11 - Dragon's Draco thrusters fire departure burns
04:07 - Unlatch/close/latch GNC door holding sensors
07:51 - Dragon's Draco thrusters fire deorbit burn
08:09 - Dragon's trunk is jettisoned
08:35 - Dragon's drogue parachutes are deployed
08:36 - Dragon's main parachutes are deployed
08:44 - Dragon lands in the Pacific
